Super Smash Bros. summons Pac-Man into the ring

The hungry yellow ball is back and he's chomping with a vengeance. After taking a hiatus from the gaming scene, Namco's iconic Pac-Man is making a comeback in the latest installment of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros, in full 3D and with an appetite for victory.

Pac-Man joins the ever-growing roster of playable characters for Nintendo's popular fighting game, which, as of yesterday, also included your very own custom-made Smash Bros Mii. But unlike Mii characters, which are confined within the quarters of the Nintendo Wii U, Pac-Man will be a warrior for hire on both the Wii U and the 3DS versions of the game.

Pac-Man, like many iconic Japanese game characters, has undergone a series of cosmetic surgeries over the past decades. This Smash Bros version, however, uses most recent 3D incarnation of the insatiable yellow sphere. That doesn't mean, however, that Pac-Man has shed off all traces of his past. For lo and behold, his weapons include fruits and all kinds of throwable objects in their 8-bit glory, though some, like a fire hydrant, are best served hard and solid.

Pac-Man's ultimate power-up is also a blast from the past, transforming the cutesy anthropomorphic ball into a giant version his former self, a huge chomping ball of yellow. No eyes, no hands, no feet. Something that might give younger kids some nightmares if they've never been exposed to the universe of Pac-Man and his ghoulish adversaries-turned-lunch.

Although the video trailer above is devoted to introducing the newest member of the Smash Bros pack, it makes another throwback. Seen near the end is Mr. Game & Watch, the almost forgotten personification of ye old gaming handheld, implying that this former Smash Bros fighter will also be jumping back into the fray.